Getting creative at UCA Epsom

Fashion designer, entrepreneur and broadcaster Wayne Hemingway inspired young people in Surrey to follow their dreams and carve out a career in the creative industries at a special event at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) at Epsom.

The founder of Red or Dead, who famously started his multi-million pound company on a stall at Camden market, was the highlight of an exciting day of talks and workshops for teenagers on Friday 14 October.

Wayne Hemingway, who is an honorary graduate of UCA, said: "I'm really glad to be able to speak at this event. If you've been a successful designer for as long as my wife and I have then I think you've got a duty to give some of the young'uns a few tips to make sure the British design industry continues to thrive.

"The best way for me to tell a young person how to get ahead in the fashion industry is to explain how I started out and what I've learned in my career. There have been fantastic successes and spectacular failures but I've lived to tell the tale and had 30 years of fun.

"Although my wife and I didn't study fashion at university, I firmly believe that there's more than one way to become successful. It probably took us many years to learn how to become fashion designers and promote ourselves – today, something which we today we would be able to do in three years during a BA degree at UCA."

The creative careers conference, which was organised by UCA's Widening Participation department and funded by Creative Portal, also boasted talks by creative professionals, students and alumni from the world of media, film, fashion, illustration and product design.

Ian Parker, Associate Dean of Further Education at UCA, said: "We organised this event to help young people make informed decisions about potential career choices and routes into art, design and the creative industries.

"We wanted to do that by bringing people in from different stages of their career – from students starting up their own production company to Wayne Hemingway who has made millions - to explain how they got to there.

"I think today has been terrific – it's been interactive, inspiring and the response from the students has been great."

The event was attended by more than 150 students and staff from 11 local schools and colleges.

Andrew Waters, from Woodcote High School, said: "I've really enjoyed today. It's definitely helped me make my mind up about what I'm going to do as I didn't think university was an option for me."

For more information contact:

David Reilly, Press Officer, UCA
T: 01252 892939
E: dreilly@ucreative.ac.uk

Twitter: @UCA_creative